Star Trek: Lower Decks is an American adult animated science fiction television series created by Mike McMahan for the streaming service CBS All Access (later rebranded as Paramount+).

Star Trek: Lower Decks premiered on CBS All Access on August 6, 2020, and its 10-episode first season was released weekly through October 2020.

The series has received positive reviews and several accolades, including two Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award nominations.

[1] Unlike previous Star Trek series, whose principal characters are typically starship captains and other senior officers, Lower Decks focuses on the missions and adventures of the "lower deckers", low-ranking officers with menial jobs, while the captain and other senior staff appear as supporting characters.

[15] It was marketed to different platforms and networks before being picked up by CBS All Access, the streaming service that was releasing Discovery, who officially ordered two seasons on October 25, 2018.

[16] In January 2019, Kurtzman said the series would not be "Rick and Morty in the world of Star Trek" and would have its own tone, but would "skew slightly more adult".

McMahan said these were there to "create a rich, vibrant, fun expression of the world of Star Trek in that era" rather than just be Easter eggs for fans to pick through.

[28] The next month, McMahan announced the main cast and characters, including ensigns serving in the "lower decks" of the Cerritos—Tawny Newsome as Beckett Mariner, Jack Quaid as Brad Boimler, Noël Wells as D'Vana Tendi, and Eugene Cordero as Sam Rutherford—and the ship's bridge crew who believe "the show is about them, but it's not"—Dawnn Lewis as Captain Carol Freeman, Jerry O'Connell as first officer Commander Jack Ransom, Fred Tatasciore as security chief Lieutenant Shaxs, and Gillian Vigman as chief medical officer Dr.

However, he wanted backgrounds and environments to be more detailed than usual for prime time animation,[32] reflecting the designs of the Next Generation era of Star Trek for the series' sets, starships, cinematography, and character movements.

[39] The team tried to follow the same rules that would apply to a live-action Star Trek series set in 2380,[32] and used the wiki encyclopedia Memory Alpha and other fan resources to stay accurate to the eras's original designs.

[32] The opening title sequence features the Cerritos flying through Next Generation-like situations with a sweeping musical score, but with twists such as it being sucked into a vortex and immediately turning around after arriving at a battle.

[10] Kelly said the Cerritos was designed to compare favorably to the franchise's live-action starships, with adjustments then made to fit the show's animation style.

[41] Elements of the LCARS computer system from The Next Generation were included in the Cerritos's design,[39] with "those swooping shapes [being] part of the overall architecture of the ship" as well as the carpet, walls, and ceiling.

[36] Westlake felt it would be funnier if sincere music scored the comedic series, which is why the main theme includes a choir.

All music composed by Chris Westlake:[45][46] Star Trek: Lower Decks premiered on August 6, 2020, on CBS All Access in the United States.

[58] In December 2020, Amazon Prime Video was revealed to have the streaming rights in several territories—including Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and India—with the first season released on the service on January 22, 2021.

[61] In August 2023, Paramount and CBS announced that four episodes of the series would be shown during free theatrical fan screenings on September 8, which is Star Trek Day.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Fun, but not very bold, Lower Decks flips the script on Star Trek regulation just enough to stand out in the franchise, if not the greater animation landscape.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Lower Decks rights the ship with a more self-assured sophomore season that strikes an ideal balance between affection and irreverence.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Mirthful as ever while having grown into a proper Star Trek serial in its own right, Lower Decks' fourth season swabs the series' formula into a pristine polish.

Developed by East Side Games and Mighty Kingdom for iOS and Android, it was set to feature the series' rogue artificial intelligence Badgey.

In April, the mobile strategy game Star Trek Fleet Command launched a Lower Decks-themed expansion, adding the Cerritos, Mariner, Boimler, Badgey, and a new function called "Below Decks Abilities" that allows players to select a support crew who give them additional abilities.

[95] The first comic book tie-in for the series—a three-issue miniseries titled Star Trek: Lower Decks—was written by Ryan North with art by Chris Fenoglio and was released by IDW Publishing in September 2022.

Derek Charm provided the art for the one-shot, which was pitched to North as "Shaxs [gets] to live his absolute best day and go completely ham on a bunch of fascist Klingons".

[98] In October 2023, Titan Books released the Star Trek: Lower Decks – Crew Handbook, an in-universe guide to the Cerritos written by Chris Farnell.

[99] North and Fenoglio are also collaborating on a 182-page choose your own adventure-style graphic novel titled Star Trek: Lower Decks – Warp Your Own Way that IDW is releasing in 2024.

[100] At San Diego Comic-Con in July 2022, Kurtzman announced that an episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds's second season would be a crossover with Lower Decks, featuring a mixture of live-action and animation.